The Forgotten Two Read online

  Kiel's shoulders slumped when he saw the steady rise and fall of her chest that indicated she was still alive, but it disturbed him that she still seemed to be unconscious. "Why is she not conscious?"

  "She began to stir. Since I had ascertained that there was a great similarity between her and the Danu, I determined that it was safe to do so and administered a drug to keep her compliant until I had completed the scan."

  Kiel scooped her carefully from the tube and cradled her against his chest. "You are certain the drug did not harm her?"

  "You are strangely … anxious about the female, Kiel. You have also displayed aggression toward this unit. Why is this?"

  Uneasiness slithered through Kiel. He frowned, though, wondering himself how to account for his uncharacteristic actions and feelings since she had arrived. "I do not know. She is fragile and we have only the one female. Her rarity makes her potentially extremely valuable to us."

  "This seems reasonable. I would like to scan you to see if I can determine hormonal fluctuations that account for your unprecedented behavior, however."

  Reluctance joined his uneasiness. "If I release her and she regains consciousness while I am in the scanner, she will try to escape."

  "She cannot escape. I will close the access door."

  Kiel was still reluctant, but he knew Manuta had a reason for wanting to scan him. He knew just as well as Manuta that his behavior had been erratic and unreasonable. It did not feel unreasonable, but he could not account for it and that made him uneasy itself. Settling the female on the floor, he climbed into the scanning tube and lay perfectly still to be scanned.

  "I detect an unaccountable rise in hormonal levels … as I had suspected," Manuta informed him.

  Kiel had suspected it himself, but he certainly wasn't pleased that he was right. "It is the defect of being only part robot," he muttered.

  "It is not a defect," Manuta corrected him. "My calculations were very precise. This is natural, for living beings to experience variations in hormonal levels that result in emotional fluctuations. Your heart rate and blood pressure are also elevated above the norm for you. Beyond that, I detect increased activity in certain regions of the biological parts of your brain.

  "I have accessed the data collected from the time I engineered the animal species from the DNA sent from the mother world. Although this certainly differs in some ways from the mating habits of the other creatures, I have determined that this is arousal, a state living beings enter when they are prepared to mate.

  "I confess I find this something of a relief. I had thought the process of sexual maturation that the daniod units experienced in their first year was a preparation for mating and when it seemed to pass I was confused. Mayhap, though, it merely requires the presence of a female to activate it? Upon consideration, that is entirely logical and an aspect I should have considered before rather than concluding that I had somehow erred in engineering the units."

  Kiel felt his heart leap unaccountably at that. "You are certain? It feels a very great deal like the period I experienced that you explained as the equivalent of emergence into sexual maturity." And it had been a miserable experience all the way around, he reflected. His vocal chords had not worked correctly and his cock had stayed erect more than it would lie down and rest. Much of that time he had felt fevered enough to wonder if he had contracted some sort of illness despite the nanos that were supposed to prevent such a thing.

  "You have reacted to the female as you should," Manuta responded. "I am pleased. This is an indication that you were as perfectly created as I had believed."

  Kiel was doubtful about that, but he decided to keep his doubts to himself. "She is … compatible?"

  "I cannot say. I have not finished collating the data."

  The statement sent a jolt through Kiel along with the certainty that it was untrue. Manuta had had plenty of time to collate the data from the scan and it certainly knew their genetic makeup. "You completed the scan."

  "Yes. Physically, the female is compatible enough. Genetically, there is some dissimilarity, but it is of no consequence. The nanos can insure healthy off-spring if it is considered desirable to use this species."

  The scanner opened. Knowing he'd been dismissed, Kiel climbed from the tube. He discovered with an odd mixture of relief, amusement, and irritation that the female had regained consciousness while he was being scanned and was trying to escape. She sent him a wide-eyed look of wariness when he stepped from the scanner. Disappointment flickered through him when he realized she'd put her clothing back together … and irritation.

  He didn't understand her reluctance to allow him-any of them-to look at her, but he found it annoyed him, especially that she would not allow him to.

  * * * *

  The cold, hard surface Danielle felt beneath her as soon as awareness began to trickle into her brain didn't encourage her to linger in never-land. Boosted by a combination of that discomfort and a vague, indefinable sense of alarm, she surfed upward at mock speed and scrambled drunkenly to her feet, stumbling around in a tight circle in search of the unnamed threat. It took a few moments for her mind to catch up to her instincts, however, and she was completely baffled by her surroundings until it did.

  The robot-cyborg-who'd brought her had vanished, the one she'd kissed just before …. She wasn't sure, still, what had happened. She remembered her desperation to barter for her life by offering whatever coin he might be interested in. She remembered that she'd been pleasantly surprised to discover kissing him was like kissing a living, breathing man, not like kissing her cleaning unit. She even remembered that she'd passed well beyond that surprise into drunken desire and then … nothing.

  The thoughts brought her attention to the coffin-like structure he'd been trying to push her into. She searched for it until she spied it and studied it distrustfully as dim, disjointed memories flickered through her mind-bright lights, the sense of being closed in, the beginnings of panic.

  She'd been in that … scanner. Mildly embarrassed when it dawned on her that the box that had so terrified her that she'd behaved like a lunatic was nothing but a scanner, she looked away from it uncomfortably in search of the cyborg again. There was no sign of him, but it occurred to her that the scanner was closed now when it had been open before. Maybe he was in there for some reason?

  Not that it mattered beyond the fact that she wasn't under guard. Unfortunately, she didn't see any way to get out. The space where she stood was almost like a narrow corridor, not surrounded by walls, but rather tangles of cables, circuits, wires and other unidentifiable electronics. She supposed it was more like a clearing in the middle of a jungle, but the 'jungle' was liable to fry her if she tried pushing through it. She finally realized that the 'wall' opposite the scanner must be the entrance the cyborg had brought her through, but it appeared to be an electronic sliding door. She didn't see hinges or a catch.

  She was examining the edges when a faint sound behind her drew her attention. Whirling, she saw the cyborg climbing, as she'd suspected, from the scanner. The look he sent her seemed almost amused.

  Irritation flickered through her, but maybe she was giving him more 'credit' than he deserved? Gertrude played at humor but clearly didn't grasp the finer points of it. He probably couldn't either, even if he did have real living tissue covering his robotic innards and appeared so human-like it was hard to grasp that he wasn't.

  He spoke to her but it was a waste of breath. She still didn't understand anything he said. The gesture was easier to understand. He lifted his hand.

  She gave him a look. As if she was going to trot over like an obedient dog just because he'd summoned her!

  The door behind her opened at that moment. When she whirled to look, she saw a procession of cyborgs leading into the distance and her heart failed her. Dashing over to the cyborg who'd summoned her, she sidled behind him and warily watched the others enter. She saw almost immediately that all of them seeming to be carrying something-unidentifiable someth
ings-but clearly pieces of some sort of electronics.

  Frowning, vaguely apprehensive, she scanned the pieces they were bringing in and piling beside the scanner until recognition abruptly dawned. "Fuck! Is that …? Oh! Oh my god! They've taken my ship apart! What the hell? What do you think you're doing, damn it? Making offerings to your god? Oh shit! I am so fucked!"

  "The ship is damaged. We have brought the damaged pieces to Manuta for analysis."

  Danielle's head whipped toward the speaker as she tried to assimilate two very important discoveries at once. "You can speak English?"

  The tall, raven haired cyborg executed a slight bow that was closer to a nod. "I have deciphered the language resident in your onboard computer, Gertrude. I am Baen of the Danu."

  "You deciphered!" a cyborg just behind him challenged, his voice tight with indignation.

  Baen shrugged. "You had accessed the information, but you had not deciphered the language," he said coolly.

  "Was this before or after you decided to take my ship apart?" Danielle demanded angrily.

  Both cyborgs stared at her in surprise. The second seemed to consider. "During. I suppose after. They were already disassembling the vehicle when I managed to bypass the ship's security and accessed the computer. I am Jalen and I am of the Danu if he is," he added, a challenge in his voice.

  "You're disassembling …," Danielle gasped faintly.

  "You have assimilated the language of her people?" Kiel broke in brusquely.

  "Once I had deciphered the language we thought it best to download it at once to allow for communication with the female," Baen replied.

  "And is this also when you decided that there would be no tactical advantage in this ability and, therefore, there was no reason to keep it secret?" Kiel growled.

  Baen and Jalen exchanged an uncomfortable glance.

  "You think she might be a spy?" Jalen asked uncomfortably.

  "We do not know one way or the other, or if they are enemies of the Danu!" Kiel snapped pointedly.

  "Well, it is not like we could question her without revealing a knowledge of her language," Baen said reasonably.

  "But that is all we can do now! If you had not let her know we might have learned a great deal while she thought we did not understand! She has not concerned herself with verbalizing her thoughts and this is most likely because she knows, or thought, we would not understand! She will be more careful what she says now!"

  "Is this about my ship? Because I'd like to know why the hell you decided to take it apart! How am I going to get home now?"

  "It was broken," Jalen responded after staring her blankly for a moment.

  Danielle plunked her hands on her hips. "That is a Federation ship! Was! They aren't going to be happy when they find out you took it apart, I can tell you!"

  "What did she say?" Kiel demanded.

  "She said her people would be unhappy that we had taken her ship apart."

  Kiel studied her through narrowed eyes for a moment. "That sounds like a threat of war."

  "I am certain she did not mean it that way," Baen said quickly. "She is clearly upset. In any case, there are none of her people here."

  "For all we know they could be right behind her, though!" Kiel said pointedly. "Tell her that she is under arrest for threatening the Danu and that I am taking her to confinement!"

  Baen and Jalen exchanged a long look.

  Baen nodded at the female. "Welcome to Manu, the central city of the Danu colony world of Marchet. Captain Kiel will escort you to a habitat where you can be more comfortable in your stay with us."

  Jalen glanced at him, but he did not make any attempt to enlighten her. If Kiel wanted to treat her like a prisoner he could damned well talk unpleasantly to her himself. "I will escort her," he offered.

  "Did Baen tell her what I said?" Kiel demanded suspiciously.

  Jalen glanced at Baen.

  "I told her she was a guest of the Danu," Baen said tightly.

  "They do not have a word for prisoner of war?"

  "I do not have that word," Baen ground out.

  "I will settle her in confinement and download the data myself!" Kiel growled when he'd glanced from Baen to Jalen and back again. Grasping her upper arm, he strode quickly from Manuta's manufacturing facility. He discovered that Baen and Jalen had followed them out.

  "She cannot walk that fast," Baen said pointedly. "She will run her little legs off trying to keep up. You cannot truly believe that she is a threat of any kind?"

  "The nenu is tiny and one of the most vicious beasts on this world," Kiel said pointedly. "You cannot think she is no threat at all only because she is a small creature when she arrived in a warship, threatened to blow my head off with that pistol of hers, and has fought me every step of the way as if she does not perceive me as any threat whatsoever!"

  "There has been no sign of others," Jalen retorted, "and what is more, the computer onboard her ship indicated that she was alone when she crashed here. She was on a scouting mission when the ship was hit by a missile."

  "Scout as in spying?"

  "Scout as in reconnoitering for enemy bases. The Nubie are their enemies and I could not find any indication that it was another word for the Danu," Baen responded.

  "I demand that you cease destruction of Federation property immediately!" Danielle broke in. Not that she could see what they were doing with the ship, though she'd certainly tried. The city walls prevented a view of the crash scene, but she could see a steady stream of cyborgs moving through the gate and heading toward the 'junk heap' they'd just left and knew it couldn't just be the damaged parts they were removing. She had a bad feeling most if not all of her ship was going to end up somewhere in the pile. "Your leaders will not be happy with you when they discover you've created a galactic political incident only because you're pig headed!"

  Baen looked at her sharply. "What galaxy?"

  Danielle blinked at him. Slowly, it descended upon her that she wasn't in her home galaxy anymore. At least, she was fairly certain she wasn't. It wasn't impossible, but they'd colonized most of the livable planets within their reach in the Milky Way and they'd explored, at least with probes, the planets beyond that. She didn't think they could've missed this species, or rather the species they hailed from.

  Of course, they seemed to have missed the Nubie, but everyone was fairly convinced that they had come from the far side of the Milky Way-and the two had met in the middle to fight over the territory there that they hadn't already claimed. It seemed unlikely these Danu were allies of the Nubie since the Nubie had hated humans on sight and the Danu looked far more like humans than the Nubie, who almost looked reptilian with their thick, pitted skin. "It's a spiral galaxy at the edge of the universe," she muttered.

  "Which edge?"

  She sent him a sour look. "Southside," she said sarcastically. Like she could explain a 'side' when she didn't know where the hell she was!

  He narrowed his eyes at her at her tone.

  "I wouldn't tell you if I could when I don't know if you're enemies of the human race or not! We already have one territorial dispute to deal with!

  "Look! I'm lost, alright? I executed evasive maneuvers when I saw the missile and Gertrude took the ship through a small wormhole. The only thing I do know is that we came out in this galaxy at the edge of this solar system. If I had a star chart I might be able to give you some idea, but I don't-because you guys have taken my damned ship apart!"

  "We have not taken the onboard computer apart. It was not damaged."

  Danielle studied him for a long moment. "So, you're saying you aren't just disassembling my ship for the hell of it? You're taking it apart to fix it?" Not that she believed that for a moment, but it wasn't a bad idea to test them.

  Something flickered in Baen's eyes. "We cannot repair the craft unless we understand it."

  "But you do plan to repair it?"

  He glanced at the other two, the ones he'd said were Jalen and Kiel. "We cannot know if that is po
ssible until we have studied it."

  "But, if it is possible?" Danielle persisted.

  "Manuta will tell us."

  Danielle frowned. "Who is Manuta?"

  "The creator."

  ?

  Chapter Four

  Danielle gaped at Baen blankly. The creator? They were waiting for a sign from some god?

  Maybe she needed to reassess her situation?

  She cleared her throat uncomfortably. "When do you think you might get an answer from Manuta?"

  "Unknown. Manuta will want to gather all available data before arriving at a decision."

  Danielle frowned, confused, but Kiel altered directions abruptly and headed toward a two-story structure near what appeared to be the center of the settlement, drawing her attention to a more immediate concern. Baen had suggested she would be their guest, but she couldn't see that there was anything at all 'welcoming' about Kiel's attitude and he seemed to be the one in charge. Visions of dark, dank prison cells danced in her head as he paused before the entrance. The door opened, sliding back into a recess, and they stepped inside. Dusk still lingered over the landscape and a surprising amount of that light filtered into the interior of the structure, but before she had the chance to find the source, artificial lights, activated by their entrance, blinked on.

  The interior had the stark, utilitarian look of an institution, but it was hardly dark and dank. It was at the other end of the scale-stark and antiseptic. It was more of a compact design that either spacious or confined, but she could see the entire ground floor area in one sweeping glance and determine that it was divided up into a food preparation, eating, and lounging or entertaining area. Stairs as utilitarian as the structure and its furnishings led upward to what she assumed would be at least one sleeping area and, hopefully, facilities for bathing and so forth.

  She needed the 'so forth' pretty desperately at the moment, she realized abruptly. All things considered, she hadn't had time to think of her bladder, but it was making itself known now.